


It Provokes and Unprovokes

by CannonCanyon



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Shakespeare, rei has self-confidence issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 09:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1118258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CannonCanyon/pseuds/CannonCanyon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagisa attempts to seduce a nervous Rei in Haru's house while attempting to watch Shakespeare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Provokes and Unprovokes

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written fan-fiction in over ten years - but my goodness if this swimming anime didn't get to me with its cuteness and its sweetness.

Rei still didn't understand why it required both of them to house-sit for Haruka when all they had to do was water his plants. That's how Naisa had put it, anyway, but he was very vague about the whole thing. Unless Rei had been too distracted again, subject to Those Thoughts that came whenever Nagisa beamed at Rei, the feelings of unexpected warmpth in his chest and face when the shorter boy's eyes met his. Maybe Haru had adopted a cat. Maybe the cat wasn't housebroken. And there could be fish to feed, too.

“Did you bring a movie, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked as Rei took off his bag.

“I did,” Rei said, and swelled with pride, “I brought Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2.”

Nagisa's face drooped and Rei's heart sank.

“According to this DVD, this film is an action-adventure epic that tells the stories of two battles and features beautiful use of English, and--  


“Rei-chan,” Nagisa said, picking up the box, “this says it's five and a half hours long.”

Rei bit his lip. Nagisa didn't want to spend time with him. He really just wanted to stop in here and finish feeding the fish and watering the plants and feeding the cat (though perhaps Rei was wrong on that one, as there was no cat hair to be found) and the invitation was nothing more than perfunctory, nothing more than something he could take back to the others and prove that Rei's morale was high enough to swim well and--

“Rei-chan, did you really want to watch this movie that much?” Nagisa said. “I didn't know you liked history so much.”

“No!” Rei said much too loudly. “I just wanted to bring something exciting! I didn't want to bore you.”

Nagisa leaned in close to Rei, close enoug that Rei could smell the other boy's breath, which smelled, in a way that was less than entirely appealing, both of fish broth and blackberry frosting. “You're much more interesting than some four-hundred year old play.” He lingered for a moment before taking the DVD over to Haru's television. “But if Rei-chan says it's good, then I'll try it!”

_Interesting? Me?_ “We don't have to--” 

“Don't doubt yourself! You'll never suceed if you don't trust your own decisions.”

_How do you do that?_ Rei's own decisions were always impulsive and ridiculous. He got involved in other people's business and pushed them to far. And if he trusted the impulses he had recently, well, there'd be no chance of Nagisa ever asking him to bring over movies and house-sit with him again. Unless he had the arrogance – the self-centeredness – to assume that Nagisa's kindness and sweetness was in any way tainted by the kind of buzzing ache that lingered in Rei's chest. But why should Rei be that lucky.

The movie began playing. Nagisa stretched and gave a great yawn, standing on his tiptoes, stretching his shirt upward to reveal a small flash of skin; and although Rei spent hours seeing much more of Nagisa in practices and changing rooms, the secrecy of uncovering flashes of skin like this, unbeknowst to Nagisa, always caused Rei's blood to thicken just a little bit.

Rei adjusted his pants with his pocketed hands in what he hoped was a covert gesture. Nagisa sat down beside Rei, just a few inches away from touching.

The movie had begun playing. There was a lot of talking in this movie, Rei noticed, and Nagisa was already fidgeting. The DVD cover had said something about language but it had also promised battles and excitement, things which Rei had wanted to impress Nagisa, to see him wide-eyed with amazement and excitement but now he was just picking at his fingernails, and even though he still looked adorable when he was tending to his nails he was almost certainly losing faith in Rei by the second.

“We don't have to watch this,” Rei said again.

“I know how we can make this more exciting,” Nagisa said, and to Rei's amazement he pulled out a flask from his small bag.

“What is that?”

“Orange juice,” Nagisa said, taking a swig. “Here, have some.”

Rei took the flask and recognized immediately from the smell that it was not, in fact, orange juice, but he was too filled with nervous guilty energy to do anything but take a similar-sized swig. The sweet liquor – whatever it was – burned going down, which started Rei coughing. “Do you ferment-” Rei coughed-- “your orange juice, Nagisa-kun?”

“Oh, I added a few things,” Nagisa said, grinning, “because I thought we should make our sleepover more interesting. Always be prepared!”

“A sleepover in Haruka-senpai's house?”

“It's important to feed fish at least a few times during the night,” Nagisa said, and before Rei could respond, jerked his head toward the television. “Wait, what's happened? Who are these people?”

“I...” Rei blinked. “I have no idea.” He took the DVD case back from Nagisa. “This says there's a king, and a knight, and a prince.” No one on the screen currently looked especially royal – and certainly not “beautiful,” though if Rei's English was better maybe he'd recognize, just like Ms. Amakata told him, how beautiful the language was. Nagisa, in contrast, seemed to glimmer in the dull flicker of the television – he moved in all of these inscrutible ways, his ears twitching, his legs crossing and uncrossing, his eyes darting away from Rei and back to Rei – and was it just him or were Nagisa's eyes bigger and deeper than usual?

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa said, “do you wear boxers or briefs?”

“What?”

“Do you wear boxers or briefs? Personally, I prefer briefs, because I think they're more comfortable, although it's more awkward to wear them in public, and-- oh, I'm sorry, Rei-chan, I forgot underwear was probably a sore spot for you.”

“N-no, it's not that,” Rei said, and blushed, remembering all too well that time he'd – stupid! - revealed too much in front of Nagisa. “But what does that have to do with anything?”

“I don't think that actor is wearing any underwear,” Nagisa said, pointing at a shirtless, hairy man on the television, “and it made me wonder what kind of underwear Rei-chan wears.”

Rei leaned forward on the couch to squint at the screen, trying to find whatever Nagisa was talking about.

“Something classy? Or maybe something aerodynamic?” Now Nagisa had placed his chin on Rei's shoulder, peeking over, in theory, to see the same picture from the same advantageous angle Rei was, and Nagisa's hand, though almost certainly by mere coincidence, was placed considerably low on Rei's hip. Again Rei caught the scent of fish broth. “Rei-chan, you carry a lot of stress in your back. That's not good for a swimmer.”

Nagisa was making fun of him - he had to be. No one talked to Rei like this unless they were about to say something nasty about him later. Or maybe this was about the team support. Haruka-senpai had assigned Nagisa to make sure Rei wasn't going to abandon the team. But with Nagisa this close, with his soft cheek nearly touching Rei's cheek and his hand far too low, now he was getting close to the real danger, to looking too closely at the tightness in his slacks--

“What are you two doing here?”

Haruka had emerged from his room. Nagisa gawked at him, confused. “What are you doing, Haru-chan? I thought you and Rin-chan were doing a triathlon.”

Haruka paced into the kitchen and retrieved a small bottle of olive oil from the cabinet. “There wasn't enough swimming in it,” he said, “and Rin can't ride a bike.”

Rei could have sworn he heard a noise of protest from elsewhere in the house – though, in fairness, this could have been the grunting stablemen in the movie. Nagisa's lower lip was sticking out.

“You can stay here,” Haruka said, frowning into his refridgerator's criper drawer before removing a carrot, “but you will want to turn the volume up.” Rei blinked as Haru spun around with his items and returned to his room. In the movie, people were angrily riding horses.

“ _Haru-chan,_ ” Nagisa said, breaking into a grin as soon as Haruka had left earshot.

“Wait,” Rei said, shifting uncomfortably, “why did Haruka-senpai not know we were going to be here?”

“Oh,” Nagisa said, “Haru-chan and I have a standing arrangement where I can house-sit for him any time. Haru-chan used to forget to water his plants, and I'd bother him about it, and so he said 'if you care so much about my plants, you can water them.'”

“I don't think--”

“So boxers or briefs, Rei-chan?” Nagisa winked. “Bet you thought I forgot.” He took another swig from his flask and passed it to Rei, and after a moment of indecision he took the container and drank from it.

“Briefs,” Rei said. “They're much better for demonstrating the human form.” Whatever Nagisa had added to the orange juice, it was _strong._

“Oh, I know that,” Nagisa said, “I've seen you change every day, Rei-chan.”

“Why did you ask, then?”

“I just wanted to see if you'd answer.”

A few words of protest formed in Rei's throat, but they caught coming out. Nagisa had again gravitated to Rei's shoulder, leaning entirely upon him this time. “Oh,” Rei said.

On the screen, characters were arguing about a map.

“Nagisa-kun!” Rei said, sitting straight up in the silence, flushed with a sudden impulse of descended luck. “You should know...” _But what if he really is just being kind and close just for the sake of the team? What if he needs me on just as a fourth member? What if..._

Nagisa's eyes were wide; his mouth opened slightly. “Rei-chan?”

Rei closed his eyes and brushed his hand against Nagisa's. “I... I was wondering what kind of pajamas you liked to wear. I don't think I've ever seen--”

Nagisa clasped his hand around Rei's. And squeezed.

“I'm not picky,” Nagisa said. “Just something warm.” 


End file.
